Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01275 (glucagon)
 26,492 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Administration of a low-dose insulin infusion to normal subjects results in a mild drop in blood glucose concentration (1.1 mmol/1 (20 mg/100 ml)) and the resetting of the basal glucose at the lower concentration. Clinical hypoglycaemia does not develop, and there is a significant release of glucagon, growth hormone, and cortisol. A similar infusion in insulin-requiring diabetics results in hypoglycaemia accompanied by a release of growth hormone and cortisol but no significant release of glucagon. Subsequently giving arginine to these patients results in a significant release of glucagon, indicating that the alpha cell is intact and can respond to local, direct stimulation. In one patient the defect in glucagon response to impending hypoglycaemia developed after two years' insulin treatment. This type of dissociated response' of the alpha cell has been reported in animals after denervation of the pancreas, and insulin-requiring diabetics may develop a selective form of autonomic neuropathy affecting the vagal control of glucagon release.
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PMID:Defective blood glucose counter-regulation in diabetics is a selective form of autonomic neuropathy. 58 16

Glucagon response to insulin hypoglycemia was tested in diabetics with autonomic neuropathy (N=9), diabetics without neuropathy (N=8), and normals (N=9). With similar levels of hypoglycemia, growth hormone and plasma cortisol increased in all groups. The glucagon response in normals (121+/-19 vs. 308+/-30 pg./ml., mean+/-S.E.M. of baseline vs. hypoglycemia peak) was significantly less in nonneuropathic diabetics than in normals (128+/-13 vs. 209+/-30) and absent in neuropathic diabetes (128+/-23 vs. 115+/-20). Arginine stimulation produced a glucagon response in the neuropathic diabetics (106+/-16 vs. 523+/-103). The data indicate that the capacity to release glucagon during hypoglycemia is lost in diabetic neuropathy while glucagon responsiveness to arginine is retained. Neuropathy in diabetes may contribute to metabolic instability.
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PMID:Lack of glucagon response to hypoglycemia in diabetic autonomic neuropathy. 83 71

Three hypoglycemia-associated clinical syndromes in people with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM)--defective glucose counterregulation, hypoglycemia unawareness, and elevated glycemic thresholds for symptoms and activation of counterregulatory systems during effective intensive therapy--have much in common. They segregate together, are associated with increased frequency of severe iatrogenic hypoglycemia, and share several pathophysiological features, including reduced autonomic nervous system responses to a given degree of hypoglycemia. In the setting of reduced glucagon responses, the reduced adrenomedullary epinephrine responses play a key role in the pathogenesis of iatrogenic hypoglycemia in affected patients. Thus, these syndromes are examples of hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure in IDDM, a disorder distinct from classical diabetic autonomic neuropathy. The pathogenesis of hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure is not known, need not be the same in all three syndromes, and could be multifactorial even in a given syndrome. The recent finding that short-term antecedent hypoglycemia results in reduced symptomatic and autonomic (including adrenomedullary) responses to subsequent hypoglycemia in nondiabetic humans leads logically to the following hypothesis concerning one potential pathogenetic mechanism: recent antecedent iatrogenic hypoglycemia is a major cause of hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure in IDDM, and hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure, by reducing both symptoms of and defenses against developing hypoglycemia, results in recurrent severe hypoglycemia, thus creating a vicious cycle. If this hypothesis is confirmed, it will suggest strategies to reduce the frequency of iatrogenic hypoglycemia in people with IDDM.
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PMID:Iatrogenic hypoglycemia as a cause of hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure in IDDM. A vicious cycle. 155 85

Deficiencies in the release of glucagon and adrenaline during hypoglycaemia in diabetic patients are associated with a high frequency of severe hypoglycaemic episodes. These have been attributed to a resulting inability to increase hepatic glucose output acutely. A more important consequence may be reduced awareness of impending hypoglycaemia. Such hypoglycaemia unawareness is related to, but not entirely explained by, diminished sympathetic activity, perhaps due to failure to activate the sympathoadrenal system until a lower blood glucose level is achieved. The patient's subsequent failure to act appropriately would then be due to impaired cerebral function preventing the perception of sympathoadrenal activation during the more severe hypoglycaemia. Unawareness of moderate hypoglycaemia is common in diabetic patients. Autonomic neuropathy probably accounts for only a few cases of hypoglycaemia unawareness and other factors which are potentially important include duration of diabetes, glycaemic control, insulin species, and the degree and frequency of hypoglycaemia. Further research is required to discover both the pathophysiological mechanisms of, and the treatment needed to reverse or prevent, the abnormality.
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PMID:Physiological disturbances in hypoglycaemia: effect on subjective awareness. 164 14

Hypoglycemia unawareness can occur in diabetic as well as nondiabetic individuals. A single causative mechanism for its occurrence is not yet apparent. It is likely to be multifactorial but current evidence favors a major role for some type of CNS adaptation. Certainly in some instances, classic autonomic neuropathy could be a contributory factor in patients with longstanding diabetes. Most, if not all, individuals with this condition have reduced plasma epinephrine and/or norepinephrine responses during mild hypoglycemia. Although it may be difficult to distinguish between mere reductions in the magnitude of a response and a true alteration in the threshold to initiate that response, four studies (44, 59, 65, 86) have provided evidence for an increase in the threshold (greater hypoglycemia required) for activation of counterregulatory hormone secretion associated with reduced awareness of hypoglycemia; in one study (44), diabetic patients had developed abnormalities with improved glycemic control after intensive insulin therapy; in another study (59), diabetic patients had recurrent hypoglycemia but did not differ in glycemic control (as assessed by glycosylated hemoglobin values) from subjects aware of hypoglycemia. In the two other studies, patients with impaired counterregulatory hormone responses and hypoglycemia unawareness had lower glycosylated hemoglobin levels than the other patients (65, 86). Altered tissue sensitivity to catecholamines seems unlikely to provide a primary explanation since not all symptoms are adrenergic and since, as mentioned earlier, most patients with this condition have reduced or delayed catecholamine responses to hypoglycemia, which in themselves could explain reduced awareness of hypoglycemia. Furthermore, patients with diabetic autonomic neuropathy have been reported to have increased sensitivity to catecholamines (143). One frequent observation, dating back to the early descriptions of hypoglycemia unawareness (17-19), is that patients with this condition have had frequent episodes of hypoglycemia. Although it is easy to envision how reduced warning symptoms could result in development of severe hypoglycemia, it is quite possible that frequent episodes of hypoglycemia themselves might initiate the process. For example, as depicted in Fig. 4, episodes of mild hypoglycemia occurring in insulinoma patients, diabetic patients undergoing intensive insulin therapy, or patients with longstanding diabetes complicated by autonomic neuropathy and impaired glucagon secretion could lead to CNS adaptation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Hypoglycemia unawareness. 176 Sep 93

Recently, there have been reports on a diminished awareness of hypoglycaemia after a switch from purified pork insulin (PPI) to human insulin (HI) in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). To clarify this phenomenon we investigated nine IDDM patients without signs of autonomic neuropathy. After an overnight euglycaemic clamp, blood glucose was lowered to hypoglycaemic levels by means of an artificial pancreas (Biostator) on 2 days. Insulin was used in a double-blind, randomized, cross-over fashion, either PPI or HI. The symptomatology and the hormonal counterregulation of developing hypoglycaemia was recorded. Venous concentrations of free insulin, cortisol, glucagon, growth hormone and the prevailing blood glucose were similar under both insulins. Eight out of nine IDDM patients felt more symptoms and at a higher blood glucose concentration under PPI than under HI. The first symptom of developing hypoglycaemia appeared at a mean blood glucose concentration of 61.1 +/- 5.4 mg.dl-1 under PPI and 44.4 +/- 5.3 mg.dl-1 under HI respectively (P less than 0.05). We conclude that HI may cause symptoms of hypoglycaemia to appear later and with a lesser number in comparison to PPI.
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PMID:Different awareness of hypoglycaemia induced by human or purified pork insulin in type I diabetic patients. 177 11

After several years of insulin therapy, about 20% of insulin-dependent diabetics have little or no perception of hypoglycaemia because of a loss of the adrenergic warning symptoms. This defect, poorly correlated with the presence of autonomic neuropathy, has been classically explained by a defect in the catecholamine secretion. We compared the hormonal counterregulation during hypoglycaemia induced by subcutaneous injection of insulin in 7 insulin-dependent diabetics with poor perception of hypoglycaemia and experiencing repeated episodes of severe hypoglycaemia (group A) and 7 insulin-treated diabetics with very good perception of hypoglycaemia and not experiencing severe hypoglycaemia (group B). Groups A and B were similar in terms of age, duration of diabetes, HbA1c level and degenerative complications. The glucagon levels were identical and non-reactive in the two groups. The basal levels and secretion peaks of adrenaline, noradrenaline, growth hormone and cortisol were similar between the two groups, but there was a significant delay in secretion in group A with a blood glucose threshold of adrenergic secretion of between 3.1 +/- 0.5 and 1.6 +/- 0.2 mmoles/l in group A and between 4.6 +/- 0.3 and 3.2 +/- 0.2 mmoles/l in group B (P less than 0.05). This delayed secretion could be explained by desensitisation of the hypothalamic glucostat and could be due to the frequency and/or severity of hypoglycaemic episodes.
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PMID:Unawareness of hypoglycemia by insulin-dependent diabetics. 218 5

Disturbances of gastrointestinal motility are a common feature of diabetes mellitus and are usually ascribed to autonomic neuropathy. In order to assess the role of other factors on changes in motility in diabetes we have studied the stomach to caecum transit time (SCTT) during the progression of streptozotocin induced diabetes in the rat. Rats were used one, two, four, and eight weeks after a single injection of streptozotocin and age matched animals were used as controls. In further experiments non-diabetic rats received a bolus injection of pancreatic glucagon (50 or 75 micrograms intraperitoneally) or its diluent. SCTT was estimated using the non-invasive hydrogen excretion method. SCTT was unaffected by the age of the animal (mean (SEM) value: 101 (5) min), but was significantly delayed at one week (139 (11) min, p less than 0.01), two weeks (163 (16) min, p less than 0.01), four weeks (148 (9) min, p less than 0.01), and eight weeks (171 (13) min, p less than 0.01) after streptozotocin. SCTT was also slower during hyperglucagonaemia (control 96 (6) min; glucagon treated 50 micrograms: 120 (7) min, p less than 0.05 and 75 micrograms: 127 (8), p less than 0.05). Since autonomic neuropathy is not a recognised feature of the initial stages of diabetes hyperglucagonaemia may be responsible, at least in part, for diabetes induced changes in gastrointestinal motility.
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PMID:Delayed stomach to caecum transit time in the diabetic rat. Possible role of hyperglucagonaemia. 237 69

The adrenergic control of carbohydrate metabolism is expressed at two levels: regulation of substrate flow, and interference with the secretion of hormones. Normally, this adrenergic regulatory system only plays a minor role. However, it is of great importance as an acute adaptation of the body to fight and flight. Under these circumstances, fuel fluxes increase almost instantaneously. Glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis are responsible for increased hepatic glucose output. Increased fatty acid flux is brought about by stimulated adipose tissue lipolysis, which probably, as a secondary phenomenon, causes decreased peripheral glucose utilisation by the skeletal muscle mass. Cerebral glucose uptake accounts for half the body's basal glucose production. Since this glucose uptake is concentration-dependent only, hypoglycaemia rapidly leads to cerebral dysfunction. To guarantee cerebral glucose uptake, the body has a dual defense mechanism against hypoglycaemia: hormonal and metabolic counteraction. The first consists of the secretion of glucagon and (nor)epinephrine, the latter of hepatic autoregulation and alternative fuels for noncerebral tissues. In clinical practice, the inappropriate insulin-excess state forms the major cause of hypoglycaemia. There is, however, a second reason why patients with diabetes mellitus are at risk. Diabetes by itself leads to impaired glucagon secretion and, when autonomic neuropathy exists, to diminished (nor)epinephrine secretion. Thus, interference with the latter, such as administration of beta-blocking agents, further impairs hypoglycaemic counterregulation. In fact, numerous studies document delayed recovery from experimentally induced hypoglycaemia in diabetic patients receiving beta-blocking agents. However, using beta 1-selective blocking agents, mean recovery from hypoglycaemia in groups of diabetic patients demonstrates minor delay only.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Beta-blockade and carbohydrate metabolism: theoretical aspects and clinical implications. 243 7

The success rate of pancreas transplantation allows us to study in more detail the potential beneficial effects of normoglycemia on secondary complications in diabetes mellitus. We report a prospective follow-up (mean 26 mo) of metabolic control, neuropathy, retinopathy, and peripheral microcirculation in 31 patients with type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes (mean age 33 +/- 1 yr; mean duration of diabetes 21 +/- 1 yr) after combined kidney and segmental pancreas grafting. All patients had normal HbA1 levels. Glucose tolerance (GT), insulin, C-peptide, and glucagon were normal in 22 patients, and impaired oral GT with reduced insulin secretory capacity was seen in 9 patients. During follow-up, there was no deterioration of GT and insulin release. Vascular risk factors, e.g., hypertension, cholesterol, and triglycerides, decreased after grafting. Autonomic neuropathy improved clinically, and R-R variation increased significantly in 3 of 18 patients. Peripheral neuropathy improved clinically in 46% of patients and did not deteriorate in the others. Motor nerve conduction velocity increased greater than 20% in 8, less than 20% in 12, and was unchanged in 8 of 28 recipients. Most of the patients (n = 30) had pretransplant laser treatment of their advanced retinopathy. Posttransplant visual acuity improved at least more than one line in 56%, stabilized in 32%, and deteriorated in 12% of patients. Patients with functioning grafts for greater than 1 yr had no further deterioration of visual acuity. Vitreous hemorrhage frequency and severity dropped markedly from pretransplant (from 69 to 24%) 10 mo after grafting. Retinal morphology remained stable in all eyes except two.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Fate of late complications in type I diabetic patients after successful pancreas-kidney transplantation. 264 53


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